Who's rocking our world this week? You may be surprised. Sure, all the big-name rock stars are dropping discs, desperate for your end-of-summer cash. But huge buzzes surround some quirkier artists, who are competing for your love by issuing discs with shticks. Among them:
JUNIOR SENIOR: This super-sassy Danish electrofunk duo features one heterosexual and one big ol' gay guy. (No, honestly, he's much taller than the other fella.) D-D-Don't Stop The Beat, the duo's debut, is some of the best, busiest dance music in years. It's a smorgasbord of frenetic beats, whimsical samples, and lyrics that are fun, fun, fun. Songs such as White Trash and Shake Your Coconuts grab from the best elements of the B-52's and Le Tigre. And yes, tunes such as Boy Meets Girl merrily address the boys' sexual orientations, making sure everyone at the party - gay, straight, and in between - feels fabulous.
TRACHTENBURG FAMILY SLIDESHOW PLAYERS: The buzz of New York, this family trio writes original songs based on the slide collections they find in thrift stores and garbage bins. Keyboardist and vocalist Jason Trachtenburg and his wife, Tina Pina Trachtenburg, who handles the vintage carousel slide projector, enlisted their 9-year-old daughter, Rachel Pina Trachtenburg, to bang the drums. The results are one heck of a live show, and an accompanying disc Vintage Slide Collections From Seattle, Vol. 1, arriving in stores Sept. 23. It includes a pull-out picture book of slides so you can further enjoy bouncy, Vaudevillian tunes like Mountain Trip to Japan, 1959.
STEVE BURNS, OR, THE "BLUE'S CLUES" GUY: Burns is known to parents everywhere as the guy who for five years hosted Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues and ran around with the puzzle-solving puppy humming The Skidoo Song. In his spare time, Burns was writing the very grown-up tunes featured on Songs For Dustmites, his excellent solo debut. Burns is joined by members of the Flaming Lips, which makes sense: the Lips are known for performing in plush animal costumes onstage. Stand-out tracks include opener Mighty Little Man, a bass-heavy space-agey rock epic, and the Bowiesque Troposphere.
SOUL ON ICE: Rappers now realize that getting street cred doesn't mean shooting people or living a thug life. It means marketing your own tasty beverage! That's what several big names in the hip-hop world, including Nelly and Ice-T, have done.
Nelly created Pimp Juice, filled with Vitamin C, B, and B12. It's an apple-flavored soft drink that gives thirsty fans lots o' energy. (It's named after Nelly's hit song.)
Ice-T, the man with the commanding voice behind the notorious Cop Killer, has developed a line of malt liquor beverages and an energy drink called Liquid Ice. Ice-T told Time Out New York that his all-natural drink may help men increase their sexual stamina. The rapper said he jumped at the chance to market his own beverages.
"Let me break it down for you," Ice said. "I am from the 'hood, right? People from the ghetto aren't given opportunities. I'm one brother who has been given opportunities, so if I don't take advantage of them, I'm jinxing everything I believe in." Ice-T the actor also stars in NBC's Law & Order: SVU.
ANTITHESIS OF KISS: This month's Spin reports that next year we'll hear a new solo album from Gene Simmons of KISS - the band that got its start wearing devilish makeup and eventually ended up, thanks to Simmons, using the KISS name to market everything from credit cards to coffins (Simmons once said his master plan was to "create a cultural institution that was as iconic as Disney"). One song, Waiting For the Morning Light, has an unlikely co-writer:
Bob Dylan.
ODD COUPLES (OF THE MOMENT): Sum 41's Deryck Whibley and party girl-socialite Paris Hilton. The two answered a call from friends in the bands Me First and the Gimme Gimmes to appear in a video for its tongue-in-cheek cover of R. Kelly's I Believe I Can Fly. Also appearing in the video, filmed in a San Francisco karaoke bar, is party-boy singer Andrew W.K., 24, who is a hot item with an older woman, former Hole bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur, 31. (Maybe the couple could double-date with Green Day drummer Tre' Cool, 30, and his honey, drummer Donna C., 24, of the Donnas.)
QUOTE: "Over my dead body, queen!"
- Boy George, responding to a reporter's query about the chance of a future Culture Club tour, in this week's Time Out New York.
(The Boy is bringing Taboo, his autobiographical 2002 hit London musical chronicling the 1980s club scene, to Broadway in October.)
- Gina Vivinetto is the St. Petersburg Times' pop music critic. Contact her at gina@sptimes.com
